Chapter 448: Ninety-Third Floor, The Swamp of Time (4)

[Escape the world. Time remaining: 1 second.]

With my senses stretched to their limits, I felt the root of destruction split apart. I knew with certainty that I had stopped the fiery storm. Deep underground, the writhing, formless energy began to dissipate. However, the power contained within the depths hadn’t vanished entirely.

What?

I had clearly sensed the impending explosion and cut it down. To be precise, I had struck at the massive, pulsing core of energy that swelled as if it were prepared to detonate. Despite that, the force buried below still churned erratically. It no longer felt on the verge of exploding, though.

I cautiously released Flash Strike. Fortunately, it didn’t erupt. It seemed like I truly had stopped the destruction.

Hmm.

Thinking it through, that wasn’t strange. I hadn’t destroyed the power, merely the mechanism set to make it explode.

[Escape the world. Time remaining: 0 seconds.]

[Escape the world. Time remaining: 0 seconds.]

The tower’s message refreshed twice as if glitched.

Is it because I cleared the trial with a loophole?

The glitch and the shackle pointed toward that conclusion. I guessed that the other escape method was one of two possibilities. Either I could escape to another world, or something would allow me to remove the churning power below.

Since the tower wouldn’t tell me anything outright, I decided it wasn’t worth overthinking. In the end, I would have to ask Natalie.

[Escape the world. Time remaining: 0 seconds.]

Still, the message remained unchanged, which was unusual. Normally, any deviation would cause the tower to mark the situation as a hidden mission.

Did the tower never account for this scenario?

Perhaps.

Without Flash Strike, I never could have dug so deep.

Even if I had faced individuals who could react to my movements while Flash Strike was active, in terms of sheer velocity, I was still faster. Truth be told, that could simply be because my opponents had been gods. Someone at the level of an ordinary climber wouldn’t even come close to matching my speed. I doubted a challenger could, either.

Moreover, I had needed to dig twice for the sense of deja vu and Soulbound’s warning to alert me of the restriction.

Breaking the mental restraint placed on me was the crucial step.

The shackle had been formidable. Perhaps, given enough time, I would have discovered it without Soulbound, but its anguished cry had shattered it. All in all, I could understand why the tower hadn’t accounted for such a possibility.

Soon after, the tower met my expectations.

[Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok’s achievement falls outside the standard parameters. His rewards are being calculated. This may take some time.]

A grin tugged at my lips—I had guessed correctly. After climbing this far, I could practically predict what the tower would do.

How long will it take, though?

I was still deep underground. Above the dark tunnel, a faint light lit up the exit. The trial had already ended, so silently waiting down here felt pointless.

Who knows how long this will take?

I jumped and soared. Since I had to dig furiously, I only realized now just how deep I had gone. Soon, the blue sky greeted me, along with the barren, reddish wasteland.

It was my first opportunity since entering the ninety-third floor to really take in the world’s scenery at leisure. During all my previous attempts, I had to move at a frantic pace since the ticking seconds kept me under pressure.

A faint breeze brushed the back of my neck. Without the ticking timer, it wasn’t such an unpleasant sight.

Will I receive this world as my reward?

I had grown used to the tower’s system of floors and prizes. Based on past experiences, it seemed likely. After all, this world had been on the brink of destruction. Also, if anything still lived here, I would probably gain their faith.

I gazed slowly across the land.

This was a world I had personally saved. Though my life had been at stake, seeing it whole again brought a different feeling. A quiet pride filled my heart.

[Congratulations. Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has conquered the ninety-third floor of the Tower of Ordeal: The Swamp of Time.]

[Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has completed the hidden missions ‘Breaking the Safety Shackle’ and ‘Suspended Destruction.’]

[As a reward, he has been granted the right to use this world as a battlefield.]

[He has also acquired the right to detonate the ‘Seed of Annihilation’ contained within the world.]

Subsequent notifications tallied my achievement points, but honestly, I barely registered them. The rewards were far too staggering. I hadn’t just inherited the world; I had apparently gained the right to use it as a battlefield, whatever that meant. On top of that, I could activate the Seed of Annihilation, which I assumed to be the power hidden underground.

What the fuck?

I couldn’t make sense of it.

The first reward implied that I could bring my enemies here for large-scale battles. The Seed of Annihilation seemed to have a similar use.

Can I even use it?

The battlefield was one thing, but detonating the Seed of Annihilation would obliterate everything—including me. Also, who knew if it would even be effective against a top-ranked god?

At that point, there wouldn’t be any restrictions on the planet, so portals would be an option, and my foe could flee as easily as I.

Or maybe not?

The explosion erupted from the place that the tower had summoned me to, spreading outward in all directions. If I timed my escape at the very edge, perhaps I could survive. Besides that, I couldn’t even be confident whether I could use this battlefield now or only after I conquered the tower.

This issue didn’t have to be solved now, though.

Better to ask Natalie.

After all, my rewards didn’t negatively impact me. Whatever the case, I had gained a new weapon. It could mean assured mutual destruction, but it was still better than nothing.

The familiar weightlessness washed over me as the tower signaled the transition to the waiting room. Floating in the darkness, the notifications refreshed once more.

[23 hours 59 minutes until the rest period ends. Please take a rest.]

“

Phew.

”

Even accounting for how Flash Strike messed with my perception of time, I had spent less than the equivalent of thirty minutes on the ninety-third floor. However, I was utterly exhausted—both mentally and physically.

Two seconds repeated again and again. With no end in sight, the tension and anxiety had worn me thin.

First, I needed to rest in the hot spring. I still had many questions about the trial, but my conversation with Natalie could wait. After a trial, and even without fighting, soaking in the hot spring raised my stats. It was essential if I wanted to grow, even slightly.

I shrugged off my armor and cast it aside.

***

[23 hours 32 minutes until the rest period ends. Please take a rest.]

As I stepped out of the training spring, a thought crossed my mind.

Shall I simply return to training?

Earlier, all I had wanted was rest, but the hot spring had washed away most of my tension. Perhaps my obsession with training was starting to lean toward a coping method.

I stood there, debating, then decided to visit Natalie’s world instead. Information gathering was more important than training at this point. I was curious about the trial’s intended method of escape, but I had to know about the battlefield and the Seed of Annihilation sooner rather than later. It would be different if this matter only became relevant after conquering the tower, but my actions had shifted the course of future trials far too often for me to stay relaxed.

If the next floor unfolded on the barren planet, then I had to hear what Natalie had to say before then. Only then could I plan on incorporating the battlefield or Seed of Annihilation in actual combat.

It isn’t like a short conversation will truly cut into my training time.

I opened a portal.

As always, Natalie was waiting as if she had foreseen my arrival. She stood in the snow-covered garden, and this time Gehenna and Hyang were with her.

Based on what she had explained, whenever she explained something, no matter how trivial, she exerted more strength the more people overheard her.

The others being here told me one of two things. Either what I wanted to ask was something she couldn’t share, or it was something insignificant. To me, there wasn’t much difference between the two.

Maybe the alternate method of escape is trivial information, while she is barred from revealing what she knows about the battlefield and the bomb.

Either way, the truth would come out once we spoke.

I smiled and waved. “How have you all been?

Hmm

, it hasn’t been that long. Sorry, the weird greeting was just out of habit. Well, anyway.”

My awkward faltering drew quiet smiles from Natalie and Gehenna.

“You’ve worked hard.”

“

Eh

, not really.” I exchanged a glance with Hyang as well before turning back to Natalie. “So how was I supposed to escape? It wasn’t cutting the Swamp of Time, was it?”

Natalie quickly shook her head. “No. If you had tried that, it would have been disastrous. The Safety Shackle wasn’t placed there for nothing. Just as you suspected, it would have done nothing more than end the time loop; it wouldn't have stopped the explosion.”

I smiled inwardly. So my guess was right. Lately, it felt as if every thought I had was proving true. Well, I hadn’t guessed the proper method of escape, but still, I had escaped.

“Then what was the actual method?”

“Well, it was much simpler than you’d expect.”

Her evasive answer only fed my curiosity, making me impatient.

“What was it?”

Natalie scratched her cheek. “You remember the stone pillars scattered around? If you destroyed them in a specific sequence, an exit appears.”

“

Huh?

”

That was it?

Honestly, it caught me off guard. The thought had never crossed my mind.

“How was I supposed to figure that out? They didn’t react, no matter what I did. I couldn’t even sense any mana coming from them.”

“That’s because you destroyed them in the wrong order. If you’d struck the first pillar in the sequence, a magical reaction would have occurred and pointed the way.”

“

Ah...

”

That made sense. Destroy the correct pillar, and the resulting magical effect would serve as a hint.

“Isn’t that too easy?”

I had never been great at math, but after solving that first step, the rest seemed like it would follow quickly.

Eight tries to find the first pillar, then seven for the second, six for the third... Eight plus seven plus six, all the way down to three... thirty-six? Is that right?

I wasn’t sure, but even then, luck would likely reduce the total number of needed attempts. If I had only had thirty respawns, it still wouldn’t have been that difficult. The thought struck me as faintly ridiculous—I hadn’t discovered the answer myself, so how could I call it easy?

I scratched the back of my head. “Not that I’m in any position to talk...”

If given enough respawns, I could have potentially stumbled onto it, but I hadn’t at the time.

Natalie shook her head. “No, it wasn’t that simple. The magical reaction only occurred for the first four pillars. After that, the remaining four had to be guessed blindly.”

“

Ah

, then that would be rough.”

Imagine reaching the fourth step, only to find nothing happened at the fifth. The sudden loss of a pattern could easily throw someone off. With limited chances left, even calculating the possibilities would be daunting.

Eight plus seven plus six plus five, and then four factorial after that?

Running the numbers in my head, it came out to roughly fifty possible outcomes.

Factoring in hesitation and mistakes, it wasn’t an easy trial at all. If the climber never found the right first pillar—like me—they wouldn’t have any hints to guide them.

Natalie added, “Given that the tower provides one hundred attempts, it was actually a difficult ordeal.”

I nodded in agreement. Calculating the right order under pressure, without knowing when the end would come, would have been a heavy burden. I let the thought go. I had conquered the trial, even if by other means. That was enough.

My questions had been out of curiosity, nothing more. I returned to my real purpose.

“So then, what exactly are the battlefield and the Seed of Annihilation?”